I'm a big fan of Damien's writing, but I struggled a little to get into this one. I'm not a fan of stuff that starts out too vague, and this is where I struggled here I think... When I have a little more time I'll revisit it and give the story more of a chance, particularly given the enthusiastic comment above and what I know already about Damien's writing.

I like that Damien told us even she didn't know where this story was going when she wrote it. I appreciated the vagueness in that regard, and the fact that not only did she leave it up for us to come up with the right answer as to what was really going on, but likely still muses over it in her own mind. There are plenty of times we are given a definitive resolution to a story, where the driving force behind each element is revealed in its entirety. I enjoyed the mystery left with this one, as it pairs nicely with Damien's graceful, evocative, and somewhat surreal style of writing. The uncommonly used second person POV is effective as it allows us to better understand that our narrator is human, and the experience itself trumps omniscience. In my opinion, it's worth a revisit if you can put aside the unanswered questions and let the story leave its mark as is.

You know what's amazing? It never even occurred to me that this one also incorporates second-person POV. The first-person POV masks that, but still... Guess that is a testament to its quality.

And that makes it the third second-person POV tale we've published. That might be a record for a publisher. Haha.

Anyway, Damien originally sent this for our Valentine's Day issue, but we liked it so much we wanted it sooner, for this issue. Great tale. And she's got another one in our Valentine's Day issue, which is also great. =)

Yes, in fact I remember reading it and telling a friend that it reminded me of "Corpus Delectable", a story I wrote in 2nd person from the perspective of a wife to her dead husband... but much, much better. Yeah, like, a lot better. Haha. She writes in that POV so effectively...every time she said "you", it was like a punch in the gut. Very emotional. Can't wait to read her piece in the next issue.